ERTRAC 20 Years Anniversary Conference

ERTRAC Anniversary Conference:
20 years of working together to accelerate innovation in transport

ERTRAC is proud to announce that this year marks the 20th anniversary of its creation. To honor this milestone, ERTRAC will host a two days celebration event in Brussels in the beautiful location of Palais des Académies, on July 5th and 6th.

Discover the programme:

5 July

Evening reception to celebrate the 20th anniversary of ERTRAC

• Setup: cocktail, speeches by high-level guests, walking dinner
• Timing: 19:00 - 22:30
• Location: Palais des Académies, Rue Ducale 1, 1000 Brussels
• Dress code: business formal

19:00 - Start of reception

19:30 - Speeches:

• Welcome by ERTRAC Executive Group members. Welcome words by ERTRAC Chairman, Stephan Neugebauer, BMW Group, and ERTRAC Operational Vice-Chairman, Jean-Luc di Paola-Galloni, Valeo Group.
• Speech by Prof. Helmut List, Chairman and CEO of AVL List GmbH, founder and former Vice-Chairman of ERTRAC.
• European Parliament (TBC)
• European Commission (TBC)

20:00 - Walking dinner

6 July

ERTRAC annual conference, special 20th-anniversary edition

• Setup: full day conference with keynote speeches and panel debates on the next key research fields for road transport.
• Timing: 09:30 - 15:30
• Location: Palais des Académies, Rue Ducale 1, 1000 Brussels

09:30 - Welcome coffee

10:00 - Opening session: ERTRAC history, how European transport research has evolved during the last 20 years? What have we anticipated well or have failed to anticipate? Discuss the usefulness of stakeholders collaboration to accelerate innovation.

• Moderator: Rosalinde van der Vlies, European Commission, DG RTD, Director Clean Planet.
• Prof. Zissis Samaras, Director Lab of Applied Thermodynamics (LAT), Aristotle University Thessaloniki, ERTRAC Vice-Chair.
• Josef Affenzeller, Director Research Coordination, Research Funding, AVL List GmbH, former ERTRAC SIG and EGVIAfor2Zero Secretary General.
• Simon Edwards, Global Director, Technology, Ricardo, ERTRAC Vice-Chair.

10:30 - Energy & Environment session: strategy for the electrification of road transport. Charging and grid integration challenges. Battery challenge, sourcing of materials. Role of biofuels and e-fuels.

• Keynote: Robert Lassartesses, Head of the Electric Vehicle Department, Renault Group, Chair of EUCAR Strategic Area Sustainability
• Uros Salobir, Director Strategic Innovation Department, ELES (Slovenia TSO), EGVIAfor2Zero Vice-Chair.
• Edel Sheridan, Senior Business Developer, SINTEF Energy Research.
• António Pires da Cruz, Program Manager, Energy Products, IFP Energies Nouvelles.
• Moderator: Michael Weissner, Group Innovation, Mobility Solutions, Volkswagen AG, ERTRAC WG Leader.

11:15 - Urban Mobility session: innovation for future cities. E-mobility, multi-modality, active modes, sharing mobility services. 15 Minutes city concept. Peri-urban and rural mobility.

• Keynote: Hans Arby, Vice-Chair of Transport Board, City of Gothenburg.
• Françoise Guaspare, Senior Policy Advisor, Île-de-France Europe, Member of the Mission Board, Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission, ERTRAC Vice-Chair.
• Margit Noll, FFG (Austrian Research Promotion Agency), CEO of the European Partnership Driving Urban Transitions.
• Maria Morfoulaki, CERTH – HIT, Head of the Laboratory “Sustainable Mobility”.
• Moderator: Karen Vancluysen, Secretary General, POLIS, ERTRAC WG Leader.

12:00 - Lunch break

13:30 - Road Safety session: next research efforts to support the European road safety objectives. Vulnerable road users, human factors, HMI, safety of CAD.

• Keynote: Ingrid Skogsmo, Senior Research Leader, VTI, President of ECTRI.
• Adrià Ferrer, Manager, Technical Expert, Innovation, IDIADA.
• Tjark Kreusinger, Senior Manager Safety Research & Technical Affairs, Toyota Motor Europe.
• Anna Rossi, Technology Partnerships Director, Forvia, Chair of CLEPA R&I.
• Moderator: Luisa Andreone, Collaborative Projects, Automation & Connectivity, CRF, ERTRAC WG Leader.

14:10 - Connectivity and Automation: long-term vision towards connected, cooperative and automated mobility. Infrastructure support for automated driving. Environmental impact of CCAM.

• Keynote: Christian Scharnhorst, Bosch, Vice-Chairman of the CCAM Association.
• Armin Graeter, Digitalisation and Automated Driving, BMW Group, Chairman of the CCAM Association.
• Manfred Harrer, Head of Department ITS Services, ASFINAG, CEDR CAD Co-Chair.
• Margriet Van Schijndel, Program Director Responsible Mobility, Eindhoven AI Systems Institute, TU Eindhoven.
• Moderator: Mats Rosenquist, Public Partnerships, Volvo Group, ERTRAC WG Leader.

14:50 - Circularity and Competitiveness: circular economy challenges, LCA, resilience and alternatives for critical materials. Competitiveness of road freight transport.

• Keynote: Nikolas Hill, Associate Director, Head of Vehicle Technologies and Fuels, Ricardo Energy & Environment.
• Catherine Girard, Expert Leader Strategic Raw Materials & Energy, Renault Group.
• Denilson da Silva Perez, EU Funding Programs Manager, CEA Liten.
• Isabelle Schnell, Project & Product Strategy Office, Volvo Group Trucks Technology, ERTRAC WG Leader.
• Moderator: Thilo Bein, Fraunhofer LBF, ERTRAC WG Leader.

15:30 - Conclusions:

• Simon Edwards, Global Director, Technology, Ricardo, ERTRAC Vice-Chair.

15:45 - End of conference

To register for the event, please apply by filling out the following form.*

For more information, please contact the ERTRAC office at info@ertrac.org.

*Registration is mandatory. This event is limited to companies and organisations involved in European transport research. ERTRAC has the right to reject applications not fitting the research activities of the platform.